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tv   Martin Bashir  MSNBC  February 13, 2013 1:00pm-2:00pm PST

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shouldn't. since most presidents are going to want like-minded people in their cabinets. so if you don't like a president's philosophy, you're probably not going to like the philosophy of his or her cabinet members. that is not a reason to kill a nomination. in the last century just three have been voted down. the charles warren, lewis strauss, john tower. there were extraordinary circumstances involved. tower, for instance, faced questions about serial womanizing and heavy drinking. he pledged not to touch the bottle while on the job but it was unreasonable to wonder if he was fit to run the military. there are no questions like that about hagel. he's just a nominee republicans do not like personally and do not agree with philosophically. he didn't exactly dazzle everybody at his confirmation hearing. but that is not grounds to derail a nomination. yet the gop is signaling it will make him come up with 60 votes.
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in the end there probably will be 60 votes for hagel, but this has never happened before. it could be happening more in the future after this. before they go too far down this road, republicans really might want to ask themselves what happens the next time one of their own is in the white house and finds himself or herself facing a democratic senate? frivolous filibustering will probably feel a lot different to them then. okay. that does it for "the cycle." martin bashir, take it away. >> i'm sure it will. thanks, steve. good afternoon. it's wednesday, february 13th. and the president has taken his message straight to the american people while marco rubio has taken his shirt to the dry cleaners. ♪ >> i'm prepared to enact reforms that would achieve the same amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade if the reforms proposed by this simpson bowles commission. >> last night the president offered up more of the same.
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>> will reduce to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. >> last night's speech was pedestrian. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. let's agree right here, right now to keep the people's government open. and pay our bills on time. and always uphold the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> senator rubio did a great job with the republican address. >> i think the big story of the night is going to be marco rubio's response. i thought that was the best response to a state of the union address that i'd ever seen. ♪ it was a confident and assertive speech and today the
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president has taken his second term agenda out on the road and to the people. his visit to an auto manufacturing plant in north carolina is part of a larger strategy to get out of washington and go directly to the voters with a clear message. we can't just cut our way to prosperity. >> i believe we reward effort and determination with wages that allow working families to raise their kids and get ahead. >> this followed a re-elected and reinvigorated president last night. pressing home his strong belief that we can fix this. >> raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in america. i'm announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs. a new college score card that parents and students can use. i propose we use some of our oil
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and gas revenues to launch an energy security trust. >> as you heard, he called for a concerted effort to address climate change. he urged an increase in the minimum wage. he endorsed fair pay for women. but is the emotional crescendo of his speech came on when he called on congress to act on gun safety and gun violence. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> it was a night with very few applause lines for republicans who mostly sat on their hands waiting for a retort from the chosen one, senator marco rubio. the senator certainly felt the heat and couldn't help but
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swallow his own pride as he turned water into whining. that left it to congressional republicans today to try to muster a response. >> last night the president offered up more of the same. >> an opportunity to bring together the country instead became another retread of lip service and liberalism. last night's speech was pedestrian, liberal broiler plate. >> joining us now is congressman elijah cummings. good afternoon, sir. >> good afternoon, martin. >> congressman, could you explain why anyone would oppose paycheck fairness so that women can get the same pay for the work as men do? why would anyone oppose preschool education for all children? why would anyone oppose refurbishing and rebuilding the 70,000 bridges and roads that desperately need repair? why would anyone oppose any of that? >> i can only conclude, martin, that it's about politics.
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i think the president set the tone when he said we have to put country above politics and we have to put country above party. i mean, a lot of what the president talked about last night was equal access to opportunity, opportunities to be successful, opportunity to see children do better than what you did. and i just for the life of me, i thought he set a very high tone. and i don't think -- i think the president was asking us to not just move to higher ground -- >> congressman, every developing country in the world believes that women should be paid the same as men. why is this so difficult for republicans to grasp? every country in the world recognizes that good preschool education for children benefits that nation for its entirety, for its future.
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why is that so difficult for these people to understand? >> for the life of me, martin, it's almost impossible for me to understand it. and to be very frank with you, it really is upsetting to me because you know, martin when i go and visit, i see those children later on in life and now they are 14 and 15 doing well in school. that's what it's all about. and with regard to jobs, the president talked about minimum wage. and a number of reporters asked me well why would he be talking about minimum wage? it's simply because he cares. he wants to make sure that families are able to do for their children -- and our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. the question is will we send them strong and send them into
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the future capable of making a living and doing for their families? >> but congressman, the president made it clear. he's not asking for bigger government. he's asking for smarter government. >> that's exactly right. effective and efficient. >> why have so many republicans responded by using the tired old lines from mitt romney's campaign that were so comprehensively rejected by the electorate? we have marco rubio in his rebuttal actually accusing the president of the exact opposite of the content of his speech last night 37. >> it is amazing. and yet again, i just wish the -- i wish our republican friends would put their political hats to the side and keep in mind that we've been sent here to do a job. the american people want us to lift their lives up and not make life more difficult for them. there's so many people, martin, who are struggling right now. and there are little things that the government can do to help
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them. they're not looking for a handout. they're just looking for a hand to get them through this storm. by the way, i was also glad to hear the president talk about getting our troops out of afghanistan. i thought that was very, very significant. and what he said about the gun and gun violence really hit home with me. i got to tell you. that was probably one of the most emotional moments last night because here you had this president who was basically saying we can do better than this. we're a better nation than this. and i just hope that our republican friends will catch on. >> we had something like 31 guests whose families had been the victims of gun violence or indeed they themselves all with democrats. not a single republican. congressman, one of your colleagues, bill schuster, has now had to apologize after telling a reporter the president was lying about one of the points in his speech. i mean, not just do they not
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grasp the challenge that's being placed before them, but then they make up stories about the president lying? >> well, i think -- i know bill schuster, he admitted he was wrong and he apologized. i accept his apology. >> what leads him to believe that the president of the united states of america in his most public speech that it's possible to quantify watched around the world would make up falsehoods? >> i don't know why he did it. he did apologize. let's go back to what the president was saying and the fact it is true. when i talked to execs, they want to see excellent transportation systems. they love to see high speed rail. they'd love those kind of things because it allows them to have a better environment which to ship their products and for the convenience of the people that work for them. they look for those opportunities. and so i don't know why bill
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schuster said that, but the fact is that i wish they would really listen to the president and start to trust, give him the benefit of the doubt that he is trying to do every single thing in his power to lift up all americans. no matter where they may live. and help live the best lives they can. >> final question to you, congressman. lindsey graham was asked about chuck hagel's nomination today. here's just a portion of what senator graham said. listen to this. >> and am i supposed to sit on the sidelines and be a good compliant republican and just let this administration not account for what i think is a national security breakdown of monumental proportions? >> when do they finally give up with benghazi? when does that happen, sir? >> i don't know. of course, hillary clinton came before the senate and gave testimony. she was very clear as best she could be. and, you know, the interesting
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thing is that we've never filibustered a d.o.d. appoint candidate. you know, the question becomes when will we leave politics at the door? why not give this president the kind of defense team that he needs? we want to make sure that we make a strong showing with regard to the entire world and one of the key positions is defense. i got to tell you. i'm glad that senator mccain said that he's not going to be part of this filibuster. one of the things we also have to keep in mind is that our secretary nominee is one who has -- hagel has been one who has two purple hearts. i get tired of us pushing aside folks who go out there and give their blood, sweat, and tears and put their lives on the line for us. next thing you know we're blocking them from trying to serve their country. a lot of people say -- tell this
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president we want you to be bipartisan. here he is reaching out to the republican party saying i want one of my key people in a key position to be a republican and then we hear this. it would set a dangerous precedent. i'm asking my good friend lindsey graham to cease and desist. let this go forward. we have got a have a defense for this country. country first, country first. politics second. >> congressman elijah cummings, brilliantly summed up. thank you, sir. >> thank you. next, the republican response from a potential savior. must-see tv when we come back. >> well, i think the refrain of they deserve a vote was written in there not just about gun control but about all the other proposals in this speech. >> the families of newtown deserve a vote. ♪ ♪ they see me rollin'
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this is his audition for 2016. and he stands apart. "time" magazine has him as the savior of the republican party. tonight it looked like he was overwhelmed. >> marco rubio did look overwhelmed and out of his depth last night. but his bumbling and rambling delivery was not the worst thing about his performance. what really left us breathless and parched were some of the self-contradictory statements that came sputtering out of his mouth. >> more government isn't going to help you get ahead. it's going to hold you back. more government isn't going to create more opportunities. it's going to limit them. now, i believe in federal
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financial aid. i couldn't have gone to college without it. >> so there you have it, folks. a new message from the new face of the republican party which could so easily have been written by mitt romney. let's bring in our guest now angela rye and i'm joined in studio by krystal ball. krystal, the one thing marco rubio probably wanted to avoid last night was any comparison with bobby jindal. but that didn't stop jindal from tweeting out his congratulations to senator rubio last night. heck of a job there, marco. but on the seismic scale of horrendous public speeches, where does mr. rubio's come? >> well, the big problem visually is he just didn't seem like he was ready for the big stage. he was sort of sweating. you could tell his mouth was dry. there was the awkward water grab. it's not so much the water itself, it's that he seemed nervous. he did not feel presidential.
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and i imagine someone like a chris christie who would have gotten up there and would have had that swagger, would have commanded the room. so i think that is unfortunately the lasting impression. and the other piece you pointed out, this is the man who is supposed to be the new face of the new republican party. and his personal story is very compelling. but the actual meat and substance of what he was saying is the same warmed over tired mush i've been hearing all my life. there was nothing new there. >> okay. that's a fairly damning indictment. thank you, krystal. angela, we heard rubio talk about his rhetoric by mentioning student loans. here he is talking about medicare. take a listen to this. >> it pays for the care my mother receives right now. i would never support any changes to medicare that would hurt seniors like my mother. but anyone who's in favor of leaving medicare exactly the way
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it is right now is in favor of bankrupting it. >> you know, angela, i have to say for something so evil and tir ran kal, the government has done a lot to help marco rubio and his family, isn't it? >> i think that's exactly right. i think when you look at marco rubio, he is the perfect picture of the modern day american dream. he's a 41-year-old cuban-american who speaks to the story of immigration like nobody's business. but at the same time you have someone who talks about benefitting from student loans and federal financial aid programs. his mother and his father benefitting from medicare. and then he goes on this rant about more government. and i'm still trying to figure out where he got that from. the president certainly didn't discuss this massive expansion of government last night. i'm trying to figure out where is rubio getting his fact? i'm not quite sure about that. at the same time i will say we have to do a lot more about, you know, spitting out these talking points that we know are going to poll well with the american people. at the end of the day, our
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experiences in life have to align at some point with the policies that we support. so he's had this story that was phenomenal, but it wasn't in alignment at all with the republican messaging that he was spewing. it was more of the same with a brand new story. and that at some point is coming to a crash and burn for them. >> it was a super tuesday for marco, though, because it wasn't his speech that was so embarrassing for the republican party. it was the fact that just before, he took a vote and voted against the violence against women act. now, again, i have to ask you what's in his mind for him to choose to not to support the reenactment of that? >> the only thing that i can come up with is that it is some sort of purely political consideration where he is trying to position himself as far to the right in a potential republican primary as possible. but at bottom, it is absolutely shameful. you will note of the 22 senators who voted against the violence
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against women act, they were all men. every woman, every female senator regardless of her party voted to pass the violence against women act because they knew how critical this legislation is. and it's not been controversial in the almost 20 years since it was initially passed and written by joe biden. >> angela, we've heard so much about the facelift that republicans are giving their party. senator rubio as you know is part of that, but so, too, is senator rand paul of kentucky. he gave the tea party response last night. take a listen to mr. paul. >> big government's not your friend. the president offers you free stuff, but his policies keep you poor. >> angela, the president's spokesman jay carney said that rubio's speech last night could have been delivered by mitt romney. but that one sounds as though it was actually written by mitt romney, doesn't it? free stuff again? >> right. i don't know about these gifts. i'm still looking for my gifts
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from the election. if you find it for me, martin, let me know. i'm not sure. i think what we hear are people who genuinely are speaking to their base. regardless of facts. these are fact-free conversations that aren't going anywhere. at some point somebody's got to hold these people accountable for the words they speak. the president came out yesterday with some amazing suggestions whether it's pre-k or rebuilding and strengthening infrastructure so that business could come back here. these are things that had you changed the party of the deliverer last night, republicans would have been giving standing ovations. it doesn't make any sense these folks continue again with the rhetoric that is without any type of facts. >> krystal, i want to give you another flourish from mr. marco rubio. here he is. take a listen. >> on the climate change, look. the government can't change the weather. i've said that in the speech. >> now, he says, you know, the government can't change the weather.
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what about the overwhelming verdict of science that the president himself mentioned? what about the national academy of sciences which found that 98% of academic researchers agreed that man-made climate change is occurring? >> that's exactly right. and the republican party, if they are going to be a modern party, if they are going to stop in the words of bobby jindal being the stupid party, they're going to have to embrace science. and embrace some sort of role of government in trying to address climate change. you know, as i'm listening to rubio and rand paul's speeches, you were talking about the parallels with mitt romney. i think the difference is rubio's speech sounded like the stump speech mitt romney would have given. and rand paul's speech sounded like the speech he would have given to the donors behind closed doors. i mean, very much the t exactly the sort of rhetoric that won him 47% of the vote. >> thank you both so much. >> thanks. coming up, ted nugent loses
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it. just really loses it. stay with us. >> let's get it right here on msnbc. i actually [ bleep ] my pants to get out of this interview. it obviously didn't work. ♪ today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers.
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cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. >> this idea that our problems were caused by a government that was too small, it's not true. >> let's be clear. deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. >> more government isn't going to help you get ahead. it's going to hold you back. >> if congress won't act soon to protect future generations, i will. >> now, does this mean there's no role for government, of course not. >> send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill. >> our government can't control the weather. >> raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. >> his favorite attack of all is those of us who don't agree with him, we only care about rich people. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. >> every problem can't be solved by the government. >> the savior of the republican party. it looked like he was overwhelmed. >> twitter went a little bit wild. >> god has a funny way of
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reminding us we're human. >> his annual look at me i'm the president speech. >> the president offers you free stuff, but his policies keep you poor. >> very lab ral. fairly partisan. >> he says the gop does not need to change. they just need to be a party that smiles. >> we're here with ted nugent noted rocker. >> without me your life would be dull. >> what was it like being in the chamer next no victims of gun violence? >> painful knowing we have engineered -- predictable flowery feel good save the children. i think i've landed on the planet of the apes. >> why does congressman have [ bleep ] for brains? >> that would take genuine fecal material instead of brain matter. is this really an interview or is this the punked tv show? i actually [ bleep ] my pants to get out of this interview. >> let's get right to our panel now. julian epstein is a democratic strategist. jonathan capehart, an opinion
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writer for the post and luke russert who caused ted nugent to soil himself. it is ash wednesday. bless you for that, luk luke. >> you had the interview of the night potentially of the year. ted nugent who was at the state of the union speech. how would you characterize mr. nugent's responses to you last night? >> well, martin, i asked him the question right off the bat which is what was it like being in the chamber next to victims of gun violence? i met a number of them yesterday including one girl who was just 16 years old, a guest of debbie wasserman shultz. a lot of dramatic stories in that chamber. i asked what was it like being in that chamber? he went on this rant as you heard in that interview about how it was the fault of the government that there was not enough done for those who were mentally ill. i then pushed him because he once referred to democrats as coyotes that should be shot and
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whether or not that type of -- saying that type of thing would then in fact make him perhaps mentally unstable. and he took great offense to that. that's why you saw the back and forth there. what was very interesting in the politics of it all, martin, is president obama, he has those victims of gun violence including gabby giffords who's beloved by everybody in that chamber. and who do you have on the right side is ted nugent. and that was, i think, very much in the back of the minds of a lot of folks in leadership how they were not too happen we with nugent being there. he was a guest of steve stockman who's doing his best to be the 113th congressman which was to garner a lot of attention, do some things that are very much out of the mainstream and end up becoming a thorn in the side of the leadership. >> jonathan, mr. nugent appears to have some kind of obsession with fecal matter.
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is this a personal fetish or a personal problem? which is it? >> oh, lord, martin. it's a personal problem. buttic it was reprehensible for him to be in the chamber. he is an american citizen. he has a right to be there. his presence there only -- it sort of highlights just how coarse our political discourse has become. that someone who can say he wants obama to suck on the end of his machine gun or other things he said at the nba convention last year, that he can say these repugnant things and still be there within feet of the president of the united states. i just think was just wrong on so many levels. and if this is what we have to expect from congressman stockman for the next two years, then i should just say thanks. he's going to give me tons to write about. >> yeah. but it's not that funny, is it julian? because i keep hearing speaker
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boehner talk about the president and democrats needing to get serious about the challenges facing this country. and then one member of his own caucus turns up with ted nugent. >> yeah. and i -- i'm only half joking when i say this kind of event makes me think it's the republican party that needs a mental health background check. because this is literally political malpractice. if you think of who the republicans showcase on this guns issue, it's ted nugent who as jonathan has pointed out has said things that would probably repulse 90% of americans. he made threats on the president's life such that the secret service had to investigate him last year. they showcase people like him. they showcase people like wayne lapierre whose basic argument is we should only pass laws that criminals would abide by. you would think that a party, the party of 47%, would be trying to figure out how to become the party of 51%. but by all these indications it
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looks like they're striving to be the party of 10%. >> right. let's forget about that philosopher ted nugent for a second. because the president said in that chamber in the presence of multiple individuals who have either themselves been the victims of horrendous gun violence or relatives of theirs have too. he said they deserve a vote. you're a man in the house. is that ever going to happen? >> if it were, it would have to start in the senate first. the reason being pure politics. you have some democrats up for election in 2014 who come from red states. republicans want to force them to take a tough vote on anything before speaker boehner would make his gop do it on the other side. however, i do think there's an appetite. it's possible to have a bill move forward in the area of background checks. i don't think you'll see anything in regards to magazine clips or assault weapons ban. that'll run into a brick wall.
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but eric cantor has said before he would like to see something passed in the commonwealth of virginia which has a background check more thorough for mental health. so maybe you see that. but as of right now it's in the senate's hands. and no one knows how it's going to move there. e especially because he has ties as well. >> let's move to the chuck hagel nomination which we're now hearing may take 60 votes to overcome republican obstruction. the senate armed services committee on tuesday voted along partisan lines to recommend his nomination. here's what it sounded like. take a listen. >> we saw with his nomination something truly extraordinary which is the government formally and publicly praising the nomination of a defense secretary. >> i want to put on the record that this senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line. he basically has impugned the
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patriotism of the nominee. >> jon, you were saying earlier this is a sad day when you think of ted nugent. but isn't it a sad day when a potential cabinet member is impugned in this way? >> yeah. from a sitting senator. a freshman senator. you know, this isn't the first time we've heard ted cruz say some over the line things. i think about his appearance on "meet the press" a couple weeks ago opposite senator chuck schumer. in the end of that interview, it took me by surprise in terms of senator cruz's tone deafness. look. senator hagel is going to get his vote in the senate. senate majority leader harry reid filed for cloture today so the vote will not take place until friday. that's when the 60-vote fle threshold will have to be cleared for a simple majority vote to take place on whether former senator chuck hagel
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becomes the next secretary of defense. >> julian, mr. cruz says he wasn't questioning hagel's patriotism. but let me read what he said when he started demanding financial information for the past five years rather than the standard two. and i'm quoting mr. cruz. it may be that he spoke at radical or extreme groups or anti-israel groups and accepted financial compensation. we don't know. in other words, have you now or have you ever been a communist, senator hagel? isn't that what cruz is asking? >> yeah. we see a lot of this kind of cheap shots by the chicken hawks in the republican party going after a man who -- a decorated veteran from the vietnam war. >> but these are smears, julian. this isn't a cheap shot. this is implying by a question that the man has corruptly received money from nations that this nation believes to be antagonistic. >> it is a cheap shot because there's no evidence of this.
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and no cabinet level nominee appointee has been through this kind of treatment. so i think at the end of the day, however, the position articulated by mr. cruz is not taken seriously by most of his colleagues. i think it's unsustainable because no nominee has been filibustered. the republicans lost this debate. and they continue to glom on to these debates they are losing rather than pick fights they can win. if i can quickly segue back to the guns issue as well. the republicans on the hill are conceding the fact privately and off camera that they can't win on the background checks. >> right. >> the real fight is going to be ultimately on clips and on assault weapons. the study was just done of the 43 most mass shootings in the country, 32 would have been able to purchase a gun under a background check system. so the background checks
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wouldn't have stopped at least 32 of the last mass shootings. so when president obama says that the victims of newtown, the victims of aurora, the victims of tucson, the victims of fort hood, the victims of so many others of these mass tragedies deserve a vote. i applaud him for saying that. the only thing i would say to that is that these people deserve a law and they deserve more than background checks because as i said background checks wouldn't have stopped many of these shootings. it's the fact that these shooters have these weapons of mass destruction like clips and assault weapons. democrats have the majority of the public on their side. the question is can they marshal that pressure to get something more meaningful than background checks. >> let's hope so. gentlemen, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, why john boehner is against the president's call for a living wage. and i wonder what he thinks of a
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director's voice: cut it! ...what...what did i say? gecko? i said gecko? aw... for over 75 year...(laughs. but still trying to keep it contained) director's voice: keep it together. i'm good. i'm good. for over 75...(uncontrollable lahtuger). what are you doing there? stop making me laugh. vo: geico. saving people money for over seventy-five years. gecko: don't look at me. don't look at me. in traditional fashion, the president delivered his state of the union address at the capitol last night and today took to the road. he visited an auto parts manufacturer in north carolina. where he spoke about investing in the business of engineering and eliminating tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas. the president has since returned to the white house which is where we find kristen welker. kristen, good afternoon. the president laid out several proposals last night from raising the minimum wage to providing preschool education for every child in this country.
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do you have any sense of which of these proposals he plans to prioritize in the immediate future? >> well, i think you're going to see him give a hearty push to all these proposals. as you mentioned today he was in asheville, north carolina, talking about manufacturing. tomorrow he'll be in georgia talking about expanding early childhood education. and friday he'll be in chicago talking about gun controls, enacting stiffer gun laws. one thing that stood out from last night's state of the union address is that this president seems prepared to spend his political capital on the issue of guns. we saw that emotional crescendo where he referenced the victims of gun violence and said they deserve a vote. talking about gabby giffords, the parents of hadiya pendelton. you can expect him to hit the
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root with the initiatives. >> even as we speak, kristen, the president has been meeting with senate democrats to discuss comprehensive immigration reform. so should we infer from this some form of legislation is likely to come before the senate in the not too distant future? >> i think they're getting closer, martin. and you heard the president word what he was saying so carefully. he didn't propose anything new. he was very careful not to step on the contours of that deal that seems to be coming together in the senate. eight senators, a bipartisan group, that has been meeting trying to get legislation forward. i think we can expect to see that. >> kristen welker, thank you. next, why $9 an hour is just too much for mr. boehner. but first, kayla tausche has the cnbc market wrap. >> good afternoon to you, martin. here's a look at how stocks stand going into tomorrow. stocks started and ended the day in the red due to data showing
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spending pulled back due to higher taxes. that led the dow down 35 points today. both edged up slightly but up for the year market up 6.5%. that's it for cnbc. first in business worldwide. ♪ [ male announcer ] susan writes children's books. when she's happy, she writes about bunnies. when she's sad, she writes about goblins. [ balloon pops, goblin growling ] she wrote a lot about goblins after getting burned in the market. but she found someone to talk to and gained the confidence to start investing again. ♪ and that's what you call a storybook ending. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.
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the president surprised his audience last night by calling for a higher minimum wage, but the republicans were ready with a counterpunch. take a listen. >> i don't think the minimum wage law works. >> when you raise the price of employment, guess what happens. you get less of it. >> minimum wage laws have never worked in terms of helping the middle class. >> let's bring in william cohen,
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author of "money and power." we're also joined by judith brown dianes. bill, let's begin with this falsification by rubio and boehner. there was a study in new jersey which looked at the effects of a minimum wage hike. it concludes by saying we find no evidence that the rise in new jersey's minimum wage reduced employment at fast-food restaurants in the state. it goes on to say raising the minimum wage at least in this case actually increased employment. so what are these people talking about? >> martin, as usual, i have no idea. it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. by the way, one of the two authors of that study was allen krueger who at the time was a princeton professor and now is head of obama's council on economic advisers. so as a result of that conclusion, it's not surprising that he would suggest raising the minimum wage because obviously his work shows that
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does not reduce employment in any way. it actually helps people get jobs and helps bring people out of the middle class. >> judith, a worker making the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour would earn $14,500 a year. now, the federal poverty level for a family of two is $15,130. timothy miller has suggested the president's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour doesn't go far enough. do you agree? >> that's right. i mean, americans want a living wage. $9 an hour is still not enough especially if you are raising a family. we have over 14 million families in this country. women and men who actually make a minimum wage. and it's not enough. so when you work hard and you take the responsibility of having a job and raising a family, this is not enough. we need to put americans back to work, but we also need to make
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sure that when we put them back to work, that they're able to make a wage that allows them to live a good life. >> yeah. that sounds like perfect sanity to me, judith. why is it not to people like speaker boehner and marco rubio? >> it's all about corporate interests. there are those who don't want to ante up. they want to keep their -- the bonuses for the corporate ceos instead of giving the wages to hard-working americans who deserve a living wage. >> to that point, bill, you were saying earlier that to some extent this is driven by ceos who have done brilliantly during this president's tenure. yet they don't want to see a minimum wage increase? even though they themselves have been beneficiaries of profits. >> you notice they're not consulting unless they're channelling corporate ceos. i bet if you ask ceos they would
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probably reluctantly agree to increase the minimum wage because that would probably even though it means less for them and for shareholders, it would be good for the overall corporate wheel. which is very important these days, i would think. by the way, i think this is also a bit of a red herring. the real issue, if i may, is the congress has taken itself on a ten-day vacation in the two weeks leading up to the sequester. >> brilliant. fantastic. >> talk about ruining the potential for this economic recovery which is fragile but real. and if in fact they go on vacation and we're forced to have these cuts automatically, you're putting at risk the economic safety of the country at just the moment when it's about to be recovering. >> and so final question to you, judith and briefly if you can, do you think the minimum wage will be raise? >> i'm hopeful. >> thank you so much william cohen and judith brown dianis. thank you so much.
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we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ they see me rollin' ♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to -- [ woman ] hi there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of an iihs top safety pick, the 2013 volkswagen tiguan. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease a 2013 tiguan for $219 a month. ♪ [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do.
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